What is MLB’s new replay rule? Everything you need to know about nightmare regulation for managers

Major League Baseball is introducing new replay rules for the 2023 season to speed up the game and eliminate non-monumental reviews. The changes include managers now holding up their hands immediately after a play to signal they are considering challenging, with the umpire starting a 15-second replay clock once the hand is up.

The manager must decide whether to challenge before the clock hits zero. The previous rule gave managers 20 seconds to decide whether to challenge and was rarely enforced. Once the timer reaches zero, all challenge requests will be denied.

MLB hopes that the changes will speed up the game and eliminate lengthy delays caused by replays, which, in the past, have held up games for several minutes. However, managers fear that these changes will limit the time they have to find the perfect camera angle, leading to missed calls and, potentially, a game being decided by a missed call after a replay review.

Changes to the replay rules have caused concern among managers, who fear that they will create problems. Some managers believe that they will have to hold up their hand on almost every close play, while others think that the changes will lead to more stoppages in play.

Before the new MLB replay rule managers had more time as the umpires approached them

MLB has responded to the pushback by telling managers to reprogram how they think about replays in the first place. Instead of focusing on minor plays, they should start prioritizing their challenges according to leverage. For example, teams should think about high-leverage challenges in the same way that they plan out when to deploy high-leverage relievers.

All 30 managers must now deal with the changes, and whether they like them or not, they have to adjust their thinking to the new rules.

These changes may cause some disruption, but they are intended to speed up the game and eliminate non-monumental reviews. It remains to be seen how successful the new rules will be and whether they will lead to more stoppages in play or more missed calls.

The new changes to the MLB replay rule could potentially lead to game-deciding mistakes